CATATONIA AND OTHER MOTOR SYNDROMES IN A CHRONICALLY HOSPITALIZED PSYCHIATRIC POPULATION

Background: To determine the motor characteristics of chronic catatoni a, catatonia and other motor disorders were systematically rated in a long-term hospitalized sample. Method: Chronically hospitalized psychi atric inpatients (N = 42) with a clinical diagnosis of catatonic schiz ophrenia (295.2X) were rated for catatonia with a novel 23-item catato nia rating scale, and for parkinsonism, dyskinesia and akathisia using standard rating scales with scale-based criteria for case definition. Results: Catatonia was the sole motor syndrome in nine cases (21%), c o-existed with parkinsonism in five (12%), tardive dyskinesia in four (10%), and both parkinsonism and tardive dyskinesia in 10 (24%). There was no correlation between total scores across the four rating scales . 'Rigidity' was the sole catatonic sign which overlapped with other s cales. The symptom profile of catatonia in this chronic sample was sim ilar to previous reports based on acutely ill patients. Conclusion: Ca tatonia is distinguishable from other motor disorders in chronic psych iatric patients using the 23-item catatonia rating scale. The features of chronic catatonia are described, and the distribution of catatonic signs is similar for chronic and acute catatonia. (C) 1997 Elsevier S cience B.V.